


monumental

by rovio



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 02:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15475386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rovio/pseuds/rovio
Summary: His hand is already cold when Krolia grabs the detonator and pushes the button.Things go horribly wrong and Krolia doesn't leave the Earth alone.





	monumental

**Author's Note:**

> IDK, I just had both Krolia _and_ 'what if' feelings.

His hand is already cold when Krolia grabs the detonator and pushes the button. The light of the explosion is blinding and when her eyes finally stop stinging, the reality of it hits her. 

She's lost friends and lovers over the years and some of them she killed herself. The pain of that was nothing compared to this, to the way her hands shake when she gathers him in her arms and the way she struggles to breathe as she buries her face in his hair.

She can smell blood and death in it. It's still nice.

She's not sure how long she sits there in the cold and silent desert, but all in all it's not that long. She straightens her back and wipes her eyes. She can't afford to break down now, not when she has a son waiting for her.

A family. Smaller now than an hour ago, but still.

They'd never talked about burial customs so she does the best she can in the little time she allows for herself. He's heavier in death than he was alive when she carries him to the Blue Lion.

"Watch over him," she says when she's laid the last stone on top of the shallow grave she dug with her bare hands. "You owe me that."

The Lion doesn't reply and Krolia's not a fool enough to think it's listening. It doesn't matter. As long as the Lion is here, the scavengers won't be.

The house is quiet and Keith is still sleeping when she finally stands over his bed. He's so tiny and so perfect. She can't believe she had a part in making him.

She packs things she thinks they might need, food and clothes and weapons. Then she looks down at Keith who looks back at him. He's quiet, always, but especially now. Like he knows something went wrong and his life is about to change.

Krolia picks him up and he weighs nothing in her arm. The baby sling she thought was ridiculous is useful when she straddles the hoverbike and needs both hands to drive it. Keith is asleep again, a small warm miracle against her chest, and she thinks, _They took him but I won't let them take you_. The grief and rage almost spill over, almost make her cry, but she can't do that yet.

The sun will rise soon and they'll have to leave before that.

She leaves the bike with the Lion too. Maybe someday someone will find it and the grave and wonder. Keith makes a small noise and she shushes him absently, but when she looks down, he's not looking at her. He's looking at the Lion.

Logically, Krolia knows he's too young to think much of anything. The Lion isn't alive either.

Still. It feels like she's witnessing something monumental.

Like the whole point of it, of everything she's been through and everything she's lost, was in order to get her to this backwater blue planet so that she could meet him and give birth to a child, to this child, their child, and bring him here. Like the whole universe is shifting, waking up from a deep slumber and finally taking interest.

The Lion doesn't move. Keith doesn't move either. Krolia curls around him and weeps.

Eventually she raises her head and wipes her face with the back of her hand. She feels better, at peace. It's strange but true.

"We'll come back," she says both to the Lion and to her son. "One day."

Because they still can't stay here, on this little planet that has barely touched the stars and wouldn't understand them. Keith gurgles as if he's saying goodbye too and doesn't protest when Krolia makes a little nest for him in the fighter jet. It was never meant for anyone but the pilot so strictly speaking it's not safe, but it's the best she can do for now. A new kind of urgency is pushing her to leave and find her way back to the Blades and their secure base.

If someone notices their ship taking off, Krolia doesn't know or care. It doesn't matter what the humans might think of it. The blue planet has taken so much from her, but it also gave her the best she could have ever hoped for. Keith is at her feet and he's looking up at her and the distant stars, and he's going to grow up into greatness.

He's her son, he's his father's son, how could he ever be anything less than amazing?

Krolia grins, blinking back the tears, and tightens her grip on the controls. The stars stretch into stripes of light.


End file.
